“Both Sunny and Casey were probably within 24 hours of euthanasia,” he said.

Casey, who was at a shelter staffed prison inmates in Nashville, was moments away.

Casey (via Jim Byk)

“They had the needle out and she wriggled away from the tech and jumped into the arms of one of the volunteers, one of the prison inmates, who pleaded for her to have a second chance,” he said. “So, it was so moving, they did.”

He said the volunteers there sent out an e-mail blast to rescuers saying Sandy was on death row and should be on Broadway.

Months later, they’ve gone from stray to Broadway stars.

“She meets him on the street and a policeman threatens to take him away and she says it’s her dog. And he says ‘Prove it.’ So she goes, ‘Here boy. Here Sandy. Sandy. Here boy. Here Sandy.’ And on a specific end gesture she does,” he said.

Pedigree has teamed up with the show’s producers, pledging $1 per ticket sold to go to shelter dogs.

Bill Berloni hopes folks will make a little detour on their way home from the theater.

Bill Berloni with Sunny (credit: Joan Marcus)

“People will meet these dogs and go, ‘Oh my God. They’re so wonderful.’ And the point is, anyone could have walked in and adopted them before I did. They were wonderful before I got them,” Berloni said.

“More and more, whether it’s on Facebook or Twitter, people are reaching out to me, telling me their stories of rescue dogs and it just warms my heart,” he added.